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Gov't tames EU campaign, chastizes Klaus

Euro Watch

By Ondřej Bouda
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 19th, 2008 issue

In the latest preparation for its upcoming European Union presidency, the Czech government presented its official presidency logo Nov. 12. Officials have decided to subdue the initial provocative campaign by scrapping the controversial sugar-cube ad about “making things sweeter” for Europe, replacing it with a crowd-pleasing, colorful Web address: Eu2009.cz.

In addition, a map consisting of the two-letter abbreviations of individual member states in flag colors is going to be used during the presidency.

“The logo is to symbolize diversity, openness, colorfulness and playfulness,” explained Alexander Vondra, deputy prime minister for EU affairs. “We couldn’t unveil the logo earlier, because we did not want to eclipse the French presidency.”

The author of the logo is freelance graphic artist Tomáš Pakosta. “I am an EU fan and am very glad for this opportunity to help in its integration,” he said. His concept was selected from more than 350 submissions from professional design studios as well as amateurs and art students.

The logo is supposed to represent the graphical unification of the EU motto “Unity through diversity” and the Czech presidency motto “EU without barriers.”

“We wanted to choose an intelligent and smart design that would reflect a country of intelligent and smart people,” said designer Aleš Najbrt, who helped to select the winning design.

The country’s head of state, President Václav Klaus, was scheduled to attend the logo presentation, but decided to cancel the engagement after he once again tried to marginalize the EU.

During a Nov. 10–12 official visit to Ireland, Klaus sat down to a friendly dinner with another notorious anti-EU-campaigner, Declan Ganley. While addressing journalists after the private soiree, Klaus reportedly voiced his support for Ganley — whose organization Libertas is held responsible for the Irish “No” vote on the Lisbon Treaty in a June referendum — during the upcoming European parliamentary elections and criticized the Irish government for its pro-EU stand.

Klaus later provided a bizarre defense of his actions in the face of criticism by local and European observers. “I see no reason why I should not meet with him,” he said, pointing out that his predecessor, Václav Havel, used to meet with international dissidents on official trips. “I, too, am now meeting one EU dissident. I consider myself to be another one.”

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin immediately condemned Klaus’ views as “ridiculous, shallow and bogus” on Irish radio station RTÉ. “The press conference after a private dinner during an official state visit and the very clear political comments made by President Klaus were an inappropriate intervention to domestic politics,” he said.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek defended Klaus at the unveiling of the presidency logo. “Even though I have a slightly different opinion than President Klaus, he has every right to his since we live in a democracy.”

Vondra was not as lenient and criticized Klaus for his belligerence. “If you are a guest in someone’s country, you have to behave accordingly,” he said.

Vondra also dismissed any fears that such incidents could become more frequent during the Czech presidency. “It is better to tiptoe softly than to stamp around in steel-clad boots,” he said. “I expect Czech politicians to behave accordingly in the future.”

Vondra, who was a member of the anti-communist dissent, also disagreed with the prospect of elevating Ganley to dissident status. “Ireland and the EU are democracies, and there can be no talk about political dissidents in the EU,” he said. “Ganley is definitely not a dissident, but a rich businessman. He isn’t being ostracized the way we were.”

Clearly, there are some interesting times ahead, as the Irish Examiner observed: “Forget sugar, it looks like the Czech presidency could be as explosive as another famous Czech invention: Semtex.”

Ondřej Bouda can be reached at obouda@praguepost.com

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